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Analyzes the impact of U.S. counterterrorism efforts - including development activities, financing measures, and immigration enforcement - on women and sexual minorities. Offers a framework for integrating gender and human rights perspectives.

Globally the garment industry is one of the biggest employers of low-skilled women workers. Despite their large numbers in the workforce, relatively few female garment workers advance to higher-level positions as they have limited opportunities to acquire the skills that would enable their professional and personal growth. In response to this need, Gap Inc. initiated the P.A.C.E. (Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement) workplace education program to teach women the managerial, interpersonal, organizational and other practical skills needed to move forward in work and in life.
This report summarizes findings from program evaluations conducted by ICRW from 2009 - 2013 at six factory sites where P.A.C.E. is implemented - two in India and one each in Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and China.
Research findings from these robust, multi-country evaluations demonstrate that P.A.C.E. is an effective, sustainable and scalable model that yields high returns for women, their families and the businesses where they work.

This study examines the existing knowledge base about promoting Latina educational success, defined as completing high school and then going on to secure a college degree. It also adds to existing research by examining two large data sets - one national, and one California-based for predictors of successful educational outcomes for representative samples of Latina youth who have recently been in high school and college. Finally, after identifying important predictors of success from the existing literature, and the examination of current data, the study incorporates case studies of seven young Latinas who illustrate pathways of women who are finding their way to educational success through high school, community college, and four year universities. Their stories provide a deeper understanding of the challenges that young Latinas encounter in our culture, as well as the promise they represent.

Avon Foundation for Women commissioned and funded the NO MÁS Study to research domestic violence and sexual abuse among Latinos, in an effort to further support the Foundation's mission of educating people to reduce domestic violence and sexual assault.

The underground commercial sex economy (UCSE) generates millions of dollars annually, yet investigation and data collection remain under resourced. Our study aimed to unveil the scale of the UCSE in eight major US cities. Across cities, the UCSE's worth was estimated between $39.9 and $290 million in 2007, but decreased since 2003 in all but two cities. Interviews with pimps, traffickers, sex workers, child pornographers, and law enforcement revealed the dynamics central to the underground commercial sex trade -- and shaped the policy suggestions to combat it.

The women who serve in today's military differ from the men who serve in a number of ways. Compared with their male counterparts, a greater share of military women are black and a smaller share are married. Also, women veterans of the post-9/11 era are less likely than men to have served in combat and more likely to be critical of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In other ways, however, military women are not different from military men: they are just as likely to be officers; they joined the armed services for similar reasons; and post-9/11 veterans of both sexes have experienced a similar mix of struggles and rewards upon returning to civilian life.
Since 1973, when the United States military ended conscription and established an all-volunteer force, the number of women serving on active duty has risen dramatically. The share of women among the enlisted ranks has increased seven-fold, from 2% to 14%, and the share among commissioned officers has quadrupled, from 4% to 16%.
Department of Defense policy prohibits the assignment of women to any "unit below brigade level whose primary mission is direct ground combat." While this policy excludes women from being assigned to infantry, special operations commandos and some other roles, female members of the armed forces may still find themselves in situations that require combat action, such as defending their units if they come under attack.2
This report explores the changing role of women in the military using several data sources. Two Department of Defense publications -- Population Representation in the Military Forces, FY2010 and Demographics 2010: Profile of the Military Community -- provide the overall trends in military participation by gender, as well as demographic and occupational profiles of male and female military personnel.
The report also draws on data from two surveys of military veterans: a Pew Research Center survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,853 veterans conducted July 28-Sept. 4, 2011, and the July 2010 Current Population Survey (CPS) Veterans Supplement (n=9,739 veterans).

This report contains the most recent and comprehensive statistics available -- for 2010 -- on the incidence of teenage pregnancy, birth and abortion for the United States as a whole and for individual states. At the national level, we show trends since 1972. For states, we present trends since 1988. The report concludes with a discussion of the methodology and sources used to obtain the estimates. Our previously published statistics for national- and state-level estimates through 2008 were published in two separate reports.
Counts of pregnancies include births, abortions, miscarriage and stillbirths. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) provides annual counts of teen births in the United States, as reported in the National Vital Statistics System (via birth certificates).
The estimates we present for 2010 are part of the Guttmacher Institute's ongoing surveillance of teen pregnancy in the United States. Our national- and state-level teen pregnancy report is generally updated every two years and contains the only available estimates of teen pregnancy for all 50 states using counts of abortions from the Guttmacher Institute's periodic national census of abortion providers. This census is widely recognized as the most accurate count of abortions performed annually in the United States. Through a collaborative agreement with NCHS, we also provide abortion data for the calculation of teen pregnancy rates at the national level for use in NCHS vital statistics reports.
A demographic rate is defined as the number of events (in this case, pregnancies, births or abortions) divided by the number of individuals who could experience the event -- the "population." The pregnancy rate is composed of the rates of pregnancy outcomes (births, abortions and miscarriages) and is not synonymous with the birthrate. Trends in rates of births, abortions and pregnancies can move in different directions and may be affected by different social and economic factors.
Unless otherwise indicated, in this report, the words "teenagers" and "teens" refer to women aged 15 -- 19. The report also includes numbers, and in some cases rates, shown separately for women aged 14 and younger, 15 -- 17-year-olds, 18 -- 19-year-olds and all women younger than 20. We also present statistics by race and ethnicity when the data are sufficient to provide these estimates.

When it ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), the United States committed to ensure the right to health care free from all forms of racial discrimination to all within its borders. Yet, as the U.S. prepares to report to the U.N. expert body charged with monitoring U.S. progress on implementation of these commitments, discrimination in health care remains entrenched.
This report evaluates the U.S. record on addressing racial and gender discrimination in sexual and reproductive health care. Recognizing that discrimination exists in both law and fact, we focus on the need for policy change as well as proactive measures to address the structural forms of discrimination that inhibit the ability of women of color and immigrant women to exercise their human right to health.

The United States' anti-trafficking efforts formally began with the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000. Since then, the U.S. Government has poured billions of dollars into prevention efforts overseas and prosecution and protection efforts at home. In many ways it provides a model to other countries that are trying to address human trafficking. This report is focused on the United States' efforts to protect trafficked persons found in the United States. Under the TVPA, protections, services and benefits are only offered to trafficked persons who are witnesses assisting law enforcement. This system presents its own challenges in accessing benefits and services, particularly due to law enforcement's anipulation of the system. This is not a case of unforeseen implementation struggles that can be fixed. Instead, at issue is the entire conceptual framework of trafficking as a law enforcement issue and only a law enforcement issue. The results of six years of this approach are becoming startlingly clear -- few trafficked persons coming forward to work with law enforcement. Those who are discovered by law enforcement but refuse or are unable to recount their experiences are not offered any protections and are instead deported. This is an acute problem in particular for trafficked children. The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children (Women's Commission) believes that this is an unbalanced approach and that the consequences are grave. While prosecuting traffickers is a just and necessary goal, it should not be accomplished at the expense of the trafficked person. Both objectives can be achieved successfully by adopting a rights-based approach, which entails providing protections to all trafficked persons. It is increasingly acknowledged and recognized even among law enforcement officials that a trafficked person who receives assistance is more likely, willing and able to work with law enforcement. Another issue throwing trafficking protections off balance is the United States' policy which focuses government trafficking efforts on eradicating prostitution, which it conflates with sex trafficking. Efforts at addressing contributing factors to trafficking are laudable but should not be pursued to the exclusion of other efforts. There is a need for immigration and labor reform that would yield dramatic results in protections for trafficked and exploited persons in the informal economy.

U.S. international family planning assistance is one of the great success stories in the history of U.S. development assistance. In 2007, 56.5 million women in the developing world were using modern contraception as a direct result of U.S. support. Many millions more have benefited indirectly from service improvements resulting from the guidance and technical expertise of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Unfortunately a large and growing need for family planning remains in many developing nations. While the world population continues to grow by 79 million people annually, 215 million women in developing countries seek to postpone childbearing, space births, or stop having children, but are not using a modern method of contraception. The United States can lead international efforts to meet the unmet need for family planning by appropriating $1 billion annually. The $1 billion figure is the U.S. fair share of developed country contributions necessary to address unmet need in the developing world and would also fulfill our historic commitments to the U.N. Millennium Development Goals.

My project explores the national and international dimensions of the late twentieth-century U.S. women's movement by examining American women's participation in the Beijing Women's Conference of 1995. This conference was the largest international gathering of women in world history. During twelve days in September, over 17,000 people from one hundred eighty-nine countries and territories gathered in Beijing and over 30,000 activists attended the accompanying Non-governmental Organization (NGO) Forum in Huairou. While many participants have written about their experiences, my book will offer the first historical study of U.S. participation in the conference based on archival research and oral history interviews. My research suggests that Beijing strengthened alliances, but also exacerbated fissures within the global women's movement and challenged notions of U.S. leadership in the promotion of women's rights and feminist politics.

Compares the content and structure of maternity care provided at a city birth center, a safety net clinic, and a not-for-profit teaching and research hospital; populations served; providers; costs; and the women's and providers' perceptions of each model.